Wow! It’s hard to believe the magnificent month of May is upon us. The beauty of nature is on full display. The brightest of colors along with the rebirth of the mountainside. It reminds me of spring green colored velvet lining the waters of the Susquehanna River. We truly are blessed to live in one of the most beautiful settings in the world.

Everywhere you turn there’s activity — biking, hiking, walking. Every ball field is in use by the young and young at heart. The month brings some great life and sports moments by its close.

There are proms and graduations ushering out the end of the school year. It’s not too early to remind every high schooler to be safe out there — no drinking and driving — please don’t be one of those news stories we unfortunately view every year. Have the time of your life and celebrate responsibly, there is so much more ahead to look forward to.

On the area baseball and softball diamonds we have the Backyard Brawl and District Championship play. Our area has been one of the strongest in the state in recent years. District champions move on to state tournament play. As do our local track and field stars who make the annual trip to Shippensburg for the state championships.
Take some time and get out and support your local athletes in the sport of your choosing. Let’s not forget all the younger folks in Little League and AYSO Soccer. There are more ball games to be found than construction on area highways. Get out and take in opening day or root, root, root, for your home team.

Now about that construction and roadwork. Please slow down, be extra cautious and give our highway workers a break. They have a most difficult job with traffic zooming by. With many area bridges being worked on that provides a little tighter work area. Let’s be careful out there folks.

When you become frustrated take a breath and remember all this infrastructure work is one of the most important and our state has a lot of catching up to do. I know it’s a stretch at the time, but consider it a blessing both economically and to improve travel conditions for the future.

How about all the new construction underway in our area? It seems like every corner is getting a new store or a facelift. What a makeover taking place at one of my favorite stores, Wegmans. Talking about dropping some dimes, I would like to know the cost of that renovation. We are blessed to have Jared Fedor, Manager and Daniel Taylor, Service Manager overseeing our local store, what a fantastic job they do.

The big doing up in the West End is the work in progress at BB&T Ballpark at Bowman Field. What a facility that is going to be completed for the Major League Little League Classic — pitting the Pirates and Cardinals at Little League World Series time. The whole story reminds me of an April Fools I wrote a couple years back. (April 1, 2015)

Webb Weekly’s own Lou Hunsinger is a Bowman Field Commission chairman and he assures me work is right on schedule. Complete with an irrigation and sprinkler system it will be one of the finest diamonds found anywhere. New dugouts, new bleachers, new box seating — a baseball lovers dream right here in Billtown. I’ll have much more on this project and ball game. It is fantastic! Tip of the cap to Major League Baseball, the folks over at Little League led by Steve Keener, The City of Williamsport and the Crosscutters organization, what an amazing idea, and joint effort taking place.

All-around the Williamsport area new restaurants and remodels seem to be popping up. Right here in Southside The Buttery Biscuit opened in late December replacing long time Southside eatery The Humdinger. If you haven’t made it over yet, do yourself a favor, what a breakfast.

We now have 505 at the old Joey’s location, a great place for lunch or dinner serving a little different style menu. Fat Cat has replaced 33 East and is building quite a following from what I am told.

I hardly recognize the Golden Strip anymore – Klingerman Korner is truly something from front to back – Buffalo Wild Wings back to Qdoba and you can get your car washed in between.

Pizza Hut has gotten a full remodel and looks great, and not too far away is Moe’s and all the new construction in that corridor. Our area is truly “under construction” and I know I left many out.

Last, but not least, I must give a shout out to the great happenings over at White Deer. The golf course is coming along beautifully with the renovations and some good old-fashioned hard work. The restaurant has been fully remodeled and is a great improvement. The facility is shaping up tremendously under the guidance of Billy Casper Golf and long time White Deer Director Steve Parlante. Golfers clap for Club Pro Ray Knight and all he does. Stop over and play a round or have a sandwich — you will be impressed.

Well it’s great to be back, thanks to everyone who reached out to me and as always — God Bless America.